The Cape Light Compact (“CLC”) is a regional energy services organization made up of all 21 towns on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard and Barnstable and Dukes counties.  The purpose of the Compact is to represent and protect consumer interests in a restructured utility industry.  As authorized by each town, the Compact operates the regional energy efficiency program and works with the combined buying power of the region's electric consumers to negotiate for economical electricity and other public benefits. 

ConEdison Solutions (“CES”) is an energy services company that provides cost-effective energy solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, and government customers.  ConEdison Solutions also provides electricity to business and residential customers.  The company is based in White Plains, New York, with offices in Burlington, MA, Cherry Hill, NJ, and Arlington, VA.  Founded in 1997, ConEdison Solutions is a subsidiary and registered trademark of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies, with $12 billion in annual revenues and $25 billion in assets.

ConEdison Solutions is working in partnership with the Cape Light Compact to continue to offer a competitive, stable, price for energy supply to customers on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

The Cape Light Compact selected ConEdison Solutions as its energy supplier because of the company’s stable pricing and its reputation as one of the most reliable energy services companies in the U.S. 

In addition, ConEdison Solutions provides customers an option to participate in Cape Light Compact Greensm and has worked with the Compact to support renewable energy through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS).

ConEdison Solutions can be reached during normal business hours by calling 1-800-381-9192.  A customer service representative will provide additional information about your service. Customers can also write to ConEdison Solutions'’ headquarters at: 701 Westchester Avenue, Suite 300E, White Plains, NY 10506 or email them at webinfo@ConEdSolutions.com.

Customers should stay with the Compact because of its comprehensive approach to energy services – power supply, energy efficiency programs, and consumer advocacy.  The Compact is a public entity and its core mission is to serve the public interest.  In the long run, customers are overall better served by a grassroots public entity than by a company with a profit motive. 

Additionally, the Compact’s power supply is greener than NSTAR’s because we are complying with the Renewable Portfolio Standard.  We also provide consumers a choice to further green-up their power under our current Cape Light Compact Greensm program.

Finally, having a viable power supply program enables the Compact to administer the $5 million in energy efficiency funds and keep these funds on the Cape and Vineyard in the form of energy efficiency services.

Effective with the July 2008 meter reads, the competitive price that ConEdison Solutions will provide to the Cape Light Compact is:

12.706 cents per kWh for residential customers;

13.976 cents per kWh for small and commercial industrial customers; and

14.776 cents per kWh for large commercial and industrial customers. (This rate applies to the July 2008 through October 2008 meter read dates).

CES and CLC have committed to a strategy of monitoring prices in the market and purchasing energy when prices are favorable. This helps us avoid buying energy at times when prices are very high. This strategy takes advantage of the best the competitive marketplace has to offer and reflects our commitment to offering the lowest price possible for our customers.

Over the past year the Cape Light Compact held negotiation discussions with six competitive electric suppliers regarding power supply pricing for 2007 and beyond. The Compact elected to stay with ConEdison Solutions as it’s energy supplier because the compact accepted the contract terms and conditions required by the Compact, and the other suppliers would not. In addition, ConEdison Solutions offers fixed, stable pricing and is well-regarded as one of the most reliable energy services companies in the U.S.

New prices take effect with July 2008 meter readings and will be reflected in August bills.

In a word, yes. But there are limitations.

A customer who leaves the Cape Light Compact power supply program and goes to NSTAR’s default service or to another competitive supplier, may return to the Compact’s supply at a later date, but acceptance of the customer back into the Compact’s power supply program is at the discretion of the Compact’s supplier. 

Here’s why.

When a supplier contracts for its energy supply, it does so for a specific amount of load (kWh usage) which it anticipates it will be serving.  When customers leave and go to NSTAR’s default service or to another competitive supplier, their usage and the usage of other customers who have left no longer need to be served by the supplier. 

This puts the supplier in the position of having excess energy.  Because of risks associated with having excess energy, the supplier will sell this excess energy into the marketplace.  When customers return, the supplier no longer has the energy on hand to serve the kWh usage the customers require.  The supplier then needs to decide whether or not they will enter the marketplace to purchase the energy necessary to serve these customers. 

Also, note that prices for energy in the marketplace at the time the customer returns could be higher or lower than the contract rate currently in effect for the existing customers.

Energy produced from replenishable or infinite sources such as the sun, wind, biomass (including landfill methane gas), and water is considered renewable electricity. Electricity generated from renewable sources has a lower impact on the environment and public health than that produced from fossil fuel and nuclear resources for many reasons, including:
1) It emits little or no air emissions;
2) It does not produce harmful radioactive waste;
3) Its fuel sources do not need to be mined or extracted from the earth.

If you are a customer of the Cape Light Compact there are currently two basic ways you can support renewable electricity:

1) You can choose Cape Light Compact GreenSMand support renewable energy each month through your electricity bill. For more information please visit our website at http://www.capelight-compact.org/clcgreen.html.

2) Install Your Own Renewable Energy System
One of the most direct ways to support the generation of renewable energy resources is to install a system at your own home or business.  There are a number of renewable energy technologies available for these purposes ranging from solar to small scale wind. For more information, visit www.masstech.org and www.mass.gov/doer.
If you want to choose Cape Light Compact GreenSM  but are not currently a Cape Light Compact customer, call us at (800) 381-9192 to enroll in this exciting program.

If you are an NSTAR basic/default service customer, you should contact NSTAR to learn about their recently announced renewable energy power supply program.

If you are on a competitive supply contract with a competitive supplier other than the Cape Light Compact, you should contact your supplier directly to find out what renewable energy programs they have available.

Cape Light Compact GreenSM is a green attribute program based on Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).  The sources of Cape Light Compact GreenSM are as follows:

• 75% small hydroelectric (certified by the Low-Impact Hydro Institute)
• 24% landfill methane gas and wind, combined
• 1% solar, from installations throughout Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard  

All of the resources in Cape Light Compact GreenSMare located in New England.  The Cape Light Compact recently purchased the RECs from the wind turbine at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Bourne.  See the data on the MMA wind turbine by visiting http://www.maritime.edu/l2.cfm?page=160
NSTAR’s renewable energy power supply program is based on energy/supply and RECs from wind contracts in New York and Maine.

Green attributes are the environmental characteristics of a renewable energy resource.  For every one megawatt-hour unit of electricity that is generated in New England, a corresponding "certificate" is produced.  Each certificate documents the attributes or characteristics of the power source - information such as air emissions, fuel source, and date the facility began operating.  These certificates are tracked through a region-wide accounting system called the Generation Information System (“GIS”) to ensure that no double counting is allowed.  There is a market for certificates associated with renewable energy resources because of consumers wishing to support cleaner energy and electricity retailers that need to meet renewable energy mandates.  By choosing Cape Light Compact GreenSM you will be matching renewable energy certificates with your energy use.

There are two options for those participating in Cape Light Compact GreenSM; matching either 50% or 100% of your electricity usage to the purchase of RECs.  If you elect the 50% option, the premium added to your supply price for electricity is $0.009 per kWh, which translates to an additional cost of $4.50 per month for a residential customer using 500 kWh per month; for the 100% option, the premium is $0.016 per kWh, which translates to an additional cost of $8.00 per month for a typical residential customer who uses 500 kWh per month.

NSTAR, similar to the Cape Light Compact GreenSM program, will also be offering two options for basic service customers; a 50% and a 100% option.  Both of these options will be offered at a premium to NSTAR’s basic service price.  Exact pricing for these options is unknown at this time since the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities still has to approve NSTAR’s proposed pricing for their program.  For more information go to http://www.nstaronline.com/residential/customer_information/nstar_green/nstar_green.asp

CLEAN ENERGY CHOICESM is a program that benefits you and your community.  When you pay a premium for Cape Light Compact GreenSM, you are making a worthy contribution to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to support the development of clean energy sources. Through CLEAN ENERGY CHOICESM, a program of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, up to 98% of the premium you pay for Cape Light Compact GreenSM is deductible from your federal income taxes, if you itemize.  Furthermore, MTC will match up to 98% of the premium you pay with two grants, funding clean energy projects benefiting both your community and the state’s low-income residents.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“MTC”), a public agency of the Commonwealth and administrator of the Renewable Energy Trust, created the CLEAN ENERGY CHOICESM program.  CLEAN ENERGY CHOICESM encourages the choice of renewable energy certificates from renewable energy facilities that have been defined as “new” by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  Suppliers who participate in this program agree to abide by specified rigorous standards relative to information disclosure, pricing, and consumer protection.  CLEAN ENERGY CHOICESM is a service mark of the MTC. 

Not at this time.

All New England states share one single network of power, called the electric grid. Generators from all over the region feed power into this grid and energy is drawn out on an as needed basis.  Since electricity in New England is based on a regional mix, the electricity that is actually delivered to your home or business is determined by which power generators are located closest to you.  The New England electric grid is managed and operated by an Independent System Operator (“ISO-NE”). ISO-NE is responsible for managing the dispatch of all power plants within the region so that there’s always enough power being generated to meet the needs of the region.

Whether you choose renewable electricity or standard electricity, you draw upon the "pool" of power that makes up the New England electric grid.  While it is physically impossible to distinguish and deliver energy from specific generating plants to specific homes or businesses, by choosing renewable electricity you are ensuring that energy from renewable sources is being delivered to the power grid on your behalf, thus creating a cleaner, healthier overall energy mix.

While many renewable energy resources, especially wind, are becoming increasingly cost competitive with fossil fuels, it is currently still more expensive to generate energy from renewables.  Part of this is due to the heavy subsidies fossil fuels receive from our government, as well as the investments already made in our existing power infrastructure.  It is expected by many that renewables will become more cost-competitive over time.  

You can sign up on our web site, http://www.capelightcompact.org.  Or please call 1-800-381-9192.  

After enrolling in Cape Light Compact GreenSM you can cancel at any time. If you do decide to cancel, please call 800-381-9192.

The first step is to participate, if you have not already done so, in the home energy audit program offered by the Cape Light Compact.  Please call 800-797-6699 to schedule this free home energy assessment that will identify immediate and recommended energy saving measures that can be installed by quality installers to reduce the energy use in your home.  We will install energy efficient light bulbs and generous rebates are available for up to $1500 to improve the energy efficiency and overall comfort of your home through air sealing and insulation measures.  We also offer rebates on high efficiency heating and hot water systems and Energy Star® qualified windows.  For more information about this program please visit http://www.capelight-compact.org/home_energy_audit.html

 

The second step is to follow the Commonwealth Solar program procedures, as all Cape Light Compact customers (all electric customers in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Towns) are eligible to participate in the Commonwealth Solar rebate program, that include estimating the rebate level you may be eligible for and obtaining some quotes from installers.  We have found many local installers will offer to manage the rebate and the interconnection process for their customers as part of the system installation work.  The Commonwealth Solar website provides helpful information on selecting an installer who can provide you with a site and financial assessment and includes some links to renewable energy system installers listed through the Solar Energy Association of New England (SEBANE), FindSolar.com and the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Directory.  

Please contact Republic ITS at 1-800-LIGHTS ON (1-800-544-4876).  The Cape Light Compact helps the towns purchase their streetlights from NSTAR Electric and contracted the maintenance of repair of streetlights, saving the towns money every year.